ESPN, whose long pursuit of Peyton Manning finally paid off last year, is said to be considering another run at Al Michaels.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that ESPN is weighing whether to pursue Michaels for its Monday Night Football package. It is an open secret that Michaels — who per multiple reports is deep in negotiations with Amazon to call Thursday Night Football games next season — will step down from his lead role on NBC’s Sunday night package after calling the February 13 Super Bowl.
ESPN is said to be “ecstatic” about its Peyton and Eli Manning-fronted alternate presentations of Monday Night Football and merely “satisfied” with its lead team of Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick. Though ESPN’s commitment to its primary MNF team would seem lukewarm at best, the Post says that there is no urgency to bring in Michaels.
Once the face of ABC Sports, Michaels was the lead play-by-play voice on Monday Night Football from 1986 until the series left ABC for ESPN after the 2005 season. He reached an eight-year deal with ESPN in 2005 to continue calling Monday night games (his partner would have been Joe Theismann) before balking and being traded to NBC for the rights to Mickey Mouse rival Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He has worked for NBC ever since.
ESPN was said to have interest in Michaels two years ago, with the Post reporting then that the network had reached out to NBC about another possible trade. Those talks went nowhere.
With ESPN’s interest in Michaels still in the exploratory stages, and Michaels’ negotiations with Amazon reportedly in the final stages, it does not seem particularly likely that this new pursuit will even be made — much less that it will go anywhere.
[News from NYP 1.25]
